August, 2011 archive

An important part of most college applications is often not taken seriously enough. Colleges will typically ask for two types of teacher recommendations and perhaps one from your high school counselor. The teachers you ask will be those you had for core academic courses in your junior year. They may not be the ones who gave you the best grades, but those that like you and classes in which you may have made the most contribution in class or the most dramatic improvement during the year.

Because college admissions counselors want to see the side of you in class that does not always come out in your application elsewhere, it is important to help the teacher focus on something that you did in class. Writing a thank you letter like this immediately following the teacher’s positive response to your request is a sure-fire way to get a stellar recommendation.

Of course, not all recommendations will be as powerful as this one sent in for William Smith, but send that thank you letter and you will come close. By the way, if you are a full service client, read the expanded recommendation tips in your handbook and pay attention to paragraph four of the model thank you letter.

Finally, here are five steps toward getting that stellar teacher recommendation. They support the points made above. Incidentally, if you are a junior or sophomore, you can get a preview of how many teacher recommendations you will need here. Keep them in mind if you are a current undergrad looking for professor recommendations for a job and/or graduate school. Learn now to be professional in your approach, it will serve you well.